Reliability and validity of the data
The accuracy of ICD-9-CM and diagnosis-related
group (DRG) codes assigned to each patient’s discharge record had been reviewed annually by an
external agency and within the hospital, and high
accuracy rates had been reported, ranging from 95.9
to 98.2%. For nursing activities and corresponding
time values, inter-rater reliability was assessed on a
weekly basis at the study unit, and the average interrater
reliability score was 91.5%. Nurses on this unit
were very experienced with making these reliability
checks.